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Captain's chair hanging leg raise is one of the best exercises to improve core strength and work on the hip flexors.
However, this exercise requires equipment that may not be available at every fitness establishment. If you do have access to one, you must make it a part of your abs workout to boost your strength and muscle endurance.
Correct Form of Doing Captain's Chair Hanging Leg Raise
It’s important to know how to do this exercise before you include it in your abs workout routine.
First, place your arms on the padded rest provided, and lift yourself while keeping your back straight and against the backrest.
To do the exercise, engage your core muscles, and lift your legs. However, keep a slight bend on your knees. You need to raise your legs to the point where your quads are parallel to the ground.
When you’re lowering your legs, do not rush the movement. You must ensure you’re lowering them in a controlled fashion so that you can reap all the benefits of the exercise.
Tips to Do Captain's Chair Hanging Leg Raise
When you’re doing this exercise, the idea is to make sure your core muscles are engaged all the time.
If your abdominal muscles aren’t engaged, the exercise will not be beneficial. Moreover, control your breathing during the exercise. That will help you with your core being engaged and, the better you do that, the more stable you’ll be.
If the captain's chair hanging leg raises become too advanced, you can begin with lying leg raises to build the endurance required to do the hanging leg raises.
Benefits of Captain's Chair Hanging Leg Raise
As mentioned earlier, leg raises focus on strengthening the core muscles. It works on the abdominal muscles, obliques and the hips as well.
The stronger your core muscles are, the better it is for balance and stability during compound movements, such as deadlifts or barbell rows. A strong core can help you with regular activities, such as carrying bags, climbing stairs or lifting something heavy.
Common Mistakes
When you’re doing this exercise, it’s easy to commit some common mistakes without realising it. However, if you know the same beforehand, you’ll be able to master the movement much quicker:
Disengaging your core
It’s absolutely important to engage your core when you’re doing this exercise. You cannot reap any of its benefits if this basic requirement is not met.
Using the momentum
The entire motion of raising your legs and lowering them needs to be controlled. You cannot use the body’s momentum to raise the legs, as that'll overpower the core muscles.
It’s important to raise your legs using the core muscles instead of swinging them upwards and backwards using momentum.
Uncontrolled breathing
Every exercise you do, including the captain's chair hanging leg raise, needs you to control your breathing. Inhale as you raise your legs, and exhale as you continue to lower them.
Controlling your breathing is one of the most foundational elements in weight-lifting and resistance-training.
